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At the core of the Schools Attuned Program is our philosophy about learning and learners. Every mind is uniquely endowed. As a result, our emphasis on the different ways individual students learn and find success in their lives has relevance for all students. Every student, not just those who are struggling, can benefit from having a greater understanding of his own learning strengths, affinities, and weaknesses along with a plan for optimizing learning and performance.
Helping teachers and students acknowledge and appreciate these differences is the first step. Helping them to celebrate the differences is the goal.
Our foundational philosophy is described in the following principles:
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Students vary widely in their neurodevelopmental strengths and weaknesses, and this variation has powerful implications for educating all kinds of minds. No one can be good at everything. Many students possess highly specialized minds and deserve to be recognized for their abilities, while not being declared defective for their shortcomings. Deficiencies need not be considered abnormal or somehow pathologically deviant.
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All of us have highly individual neurodevelopmental profiles (our current but ever-malleable spreads of strengths and weaknesses), which might work well at some ages and under certain circumstances, but not as well at other times or places.
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We can and must achieve a high level of specificity in our understanding of children’s strengths and weaknesses, penetrating well beyond labels—which are overly simplistic, pessimistic, and therapeutically ineffective, as well as potentially hazardous, self-fulfilling prophecies. The more specific we are in our descriptions of a student’s profile, the more effective we can be in helping him/her find success. It is misleading to maintain that there are a small number of syndromes or patterns within which all or most kids with learning differences can be categorized. There are innumerable ways to be different.
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Teachers, in particular, have unique access to day-to-day observable phenomena and behaviors that are windows on learning and neurodevelopmental function. They are in a unique position to identify underutilized strengths and interests, as well as breakdowns in the learning process. Knowing what to call and how to describe a particular phenomenon greatly facilitates a teacher’s understanding and management of that phenomenon in the classroom. For this reason, we label the phenomena rather than the students.
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A student’s optimal education is likely to be realized when teachers, parents, clinicians, and the child collaborate meaningfully. No single source has all the answers. Therefore, the valid understanding and management of a student’s ways of learning entails the search for recurring themes and perceived needs as discerned by multiple informed participants.
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It is as important to strengthen a child’s strengths and affinities, as it is to remediate his weaknesses.
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Children have a need and a right to be “demystified” or made aware of their specific breakdowns in learning as well as their strengths and affinities. It is especially critical for them to be able to talk about and name the functions they are working on, since it’s hard to improve something when you don’t even know what it’s called.
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Students should be learning about learning and gaining insight into their own minds while they are engaged in learning. Teachers should instruct explicitly about learning while they are teaching traditional subject areas.
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The adult world accommodates, needs, and values all kinds of minds to fill all kinds of roles. Therefore, every child should be helped to see his or her special possibilities for a life that can be fulfilling and gratifying. The cultivation of childhood optimism and excitement about the future is both healthy and realistic.
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